Kim Kardashian's Pregnancy Is No Reason to Speed Divorce, says Kris Humphries

By Mike Fleeman

02/05/2013 at 09:20 PM EST

Kris Humphries and Kim Kardashian

Seth Browarnik/StarTraks

Kim Kardashian's baby is not even born yet and already is being drawn into mama's divorce.

Kardashian, carrying boyfriend Kanye West's child, has bristled at what she sees as stall tactics by estranged husband Kris Humphries to close the legal books on their 72-day marriage.

But Humphries's lawyer Marshall W. Waller writes that "what is really going on here is that an 'urgency' in the form of an apparently unplanned pregnancy" is being used by Kardashian as "an opportunity to gain a litigation advantage (to) prematurely set this matter for trial."

He adds parenthetically that the pregnancy is "something (Humphries) had nothing to do with."

Waller explains his reasoning for calling the pregnancy as unplanned: "Indeed, why would (she) plan to get pregnant in the midst of divorce proceedings?"

Kardashian, herself, recently addressed the timing.

"God brings you things at a time when you least expect it," she said last month. "I'm such a planner and this was just meant to be. What am I going to? Wait years to get a divorce? I'd love one. It's a process."

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Critics seek to delay NYC sugary drinks size limit

NEW YORK (AP) — Opponents are pressing to delay enforcement of the city's novel plan to crack down on supersized, sugary drinks, saying businesses shouldn't have to spend millions of dollars to comply until a court rules on whether the measure is legal.

With the rule set to take effect March 12, beverage industry, restaurant and other business groups have asked a judge to put it on hold at least until there's a ruling on their lawsuit seeking to block it altogether. The measure would bar many eateries from selling high-sugar drinks in cups or containers bigger than 16 ounces.

"It would be a tremendous waste of expense, time, and effort for our members to incur all of the harm and costs associated with the ban if this court decides that the ban is illegal," Chong Sik Le, president of the New York Korean-American Grocers Association, said in court papers filed Friday.

City lawyers are fighting the lawsuit and oppose postponing the restriction, which the city Board of Health approved in September. They said Tuesday they expect to prevail.

"The obesity epidemic kills nearly 6,000 New Yorkers each year. We see no reason to delay the Board of Health's reasonable and legal actions to combat this major, growing problem," Mark Muschenheim, a city attorney, said in a statement.

Another city lawyer, Thomas Merrill, has said officials believe businesses have had enough time to get ready for the new rule. He has noted that the city doesn't plan to seek fines until June.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg and other city officials see the first-of-its-kind limit as a coup for public health. The city's obesity rate is rising, and studies have linked sugary drinks to weight gain, they note.

"This is the biggest step a city has taken to curb obesity," Bloomberg said when the measure passed.

Soda makers and other critics view the rule as an unwarranted intrusion into people's dietary choices and an unfair, uneven burden on business. The restriction won't apply at supermarkets and many convenience stores because the city doesn't regulate them.

While the dispute plays out in court, "the impacted businesses would like some more certainty on when and how they might need to adjust operations," American Beverage Industry spokesman Christopher Gindlesperger said Tuesday.

Those adjustments are expected to cost the association's members about $600,000 in labeling and other expenses for bottles, Vice President Mike Redman said in court papers. Reconfiguring "16-ounce" cups that are actually made slightly bigger, to leave room at the top, is expected to take cup manufacturers three months to a year and cost them anywhere from more than $100,000 to several millions of dollars, Foodservice Packaging Institute President Lynn Dyer said in court documents.

Movie theaters, meanwhile, are concerned because beverages account for more than 20 percent of their overall profits and about 98 percent of soda sales are in containers greater than 16 ounces, according to Robert Sunshine, executive director of the National Association of Theatre Owners of New York State.

___

Follow Jennifer Peltz at http://twitter.com/jennpeltz

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Asian shares recover on firm euro zone data, yen slips

TOKYO (Reuters) - Nascent global economic recovery buoyed risk assets from Asian shares to industrial commodities on Wednesday, while the prospect of a dovish new governor for the Bank of Japan sent the yen to a three-year low.

The signs of a recovery taking hold in Europe, the United States and China have helped improve the demand outlook for oil, copper and platinum while a solid reading for euro zone business activity supported the euro.

The slide in the yen bolstered Japanese equities to their highest since October 2008 while expectations of more monetary easing pushed two-year Japanese government bond yields down to a nine-year low of 0.045 percent.

The MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan <.miapj0000pus> added 0.3 percent, tracking a more than 1 percent gain overnight in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> and the Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> on data showing the U.S. services sector extended a three-year expansion in January.

In Asia, investors have been quick to book profits as prices approached their highs, but analysts and traders say any dip was likely to be seen as a chance to buy back into the market.

The pan-Asian index scaled a 18-month high on Monday, and was up about 2.3 percent so far this year, still modest compared to the S&P's nearly 6 percent gain in the same period.

Australian shares <.axjo> rose 0.8 percent, leading regional peers.

"Investors are positioning themselves for further upside moves while global economic data provides cause for optimism," said Tim Waterer, senior trader at CMC Markets.

Brent crude futures were up 0.1 percent to $116.64 a barrel, while U.S. crude was steady at $96.65, hovering near a 20-week high.

London copper rose 0.3 percent to $8,291.25 a tonne after nearing a four-month high of $8,322, while platinum hit a four-month high of $1,714.75 an ounce.

European markets are seen inching higher, with financial spreadbetters predicting London's FTSE 100 <.ftse>, Paris's CAC-40 <.fchi> and Frankfurt's DAX <.gdaxi> would open flat to up 0.1 percent. A 0.1 percent gain in U.S. stock futures suggested a firm open on Wall Street. <.l><.eu><.n/>

YEN TAKES CENTRE STAGE

Expectations for stronger reflationary policies from the Band of Japan intensified after BOJ Governor Masaaki Shirakawa said he would step down on March 19, three weeks earlier than the official end of his five-year term, leaving at the same time as his two deputies. His decision raised the prospect that the next BOJ governor will more readily adopt the expansionist monetary policy demanded by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

The dollar touched 94.075 yen to its highest since May 2010, while the euro also rose to 127.71 yen, its strongest since April 2010. The Aussie reached a 4-1/2 year peak around 97.42 yen. The pound touched a 3-year high near 147.25 yen.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei stock average <.n225> soared 3.8 percent to close at a 52-month high. <.t/>

"The momentum in Japan is continuing to favour yen weakening and a risk-on mood," said Stefan Worrall, director of cash equity sales at Credit Suisse in Tokyo.

Despite recent rallies, the Nikkei remains below levels before the 2008 financial crisis while the S&P 500 and Germany's benchmark stock index have both already exceeded that level.

EURO ALSO RESILIENT

The euro was steady around $1.3570, above a key technical support of its 14-day moving average at $1.34653.

The euro drew support from growing confidence in the region's economy and improving funding conditions for deeply-indebted euro zone members.

News the European Central Bank's balance sheet fell to an 11-month low of 2.8 trillion euros ($3.8 trillion) as markets unwound some of the ECB's crisis funding measures underpinned the euro, appearing in stark contrast to the U.S. Federal Reserve and the BOJ which keep expanding asset buying.

"Flows matter more than stock in currency markets when comparing central bank balance sheets ... highlighting the euro's outperformance over the last few months," said Ashraf Laidi, chief global strategist at City Index, in a note to clients.

The ECB is expected to keep interest rates unchanged at its policy meeting on Thursday, but its president may face a grilling over an Italian banking scandal.

Spanish and Italian yields fell on Tuesday after jumping on worries over a corruption scandal in Spain and polls showing Italy's former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi regaining ground before elections this month.

The yen's fall lifted benchmark Tokyo gold futures to a record high of 5,067 yen per gram on Wednesday.

(Additional reporting by Thuy Ong in Sydney and Ayai Tomisawa and Sophie Knight in Tokyo; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani and Eric Meijer)

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Tsunami Causes Damage, Possible Deaths, on Solomon Islands

AUCKLAND, New Zealand — A powerful 8.0 magnitude earthquake caused a tsunami that sent strong waves crashing into several South Pacific islands, with officials in the Solomon Islands fearful that some residents had lost their lives.

The earthquake prompted tsunami warnings and watches from several island chains to Australia and later New Zealand, but many of those were later canceled.

The low-lying Solomon Islands, however, were not spared. George Herming, a government spokesman, said the tsunami sent two nearly five-foot waves into the western side of Santa Cruz Island, damaging at least 50 homes.

The police commissioner of the islands, John Lansley, said his patrols reported that at least four people and perhaps more were likely killed by the waves and ensuing flooding.

Richard Dapo, a school principal on an island near Santa Cruz, told the Associated Press that he had been getting calls from families on the coast whose homes had been damaged by the waves. 

“I try to tell the people living on the coastline, ‘Move inland, find a higher place. Make sure to keep away from the sea. Watch out for waves,’” he said.

The earthquake struck around 11 a.m. local time in the Santa Cruz Islands. There were conflicting reports as to the depth of the quake.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said the tsunami warning was limited to the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Tuvalu, New Caledonia, Kosrae, Fiji, Kiribati, and Wallis and Futuna.

A lesser alert, a tsunami watch, was declared for American Samoa, Australia, Guam, the Northern Marianas, New Zealand and eastern Indonesia.

The earthquake was not only powerful but also shallow, which gave it significant potential to cause damage, said Barry Hirshorn, a geophysicist with the National Weather Service in Hawaii. Moreover, it was a thrust earthquake, he said, meaning that the sea floor moved up or down, not sideways, contributing to the potential for a dangerous tsunami.

But after the earthquake, as scientists watched to see how far a tsunami might spread, there were few early indications of a major threat beyond the immediate area, Mr. Hirshorn said. A water rise of about three feet had been observed close to the quake, he said, still high enough to be potentially damaging but probably not big enough to threaten distant shores.

In New Zealand, thousands of people were at the beach, swimming in the sea on a glorious summer afternoon on Waitangi Day, a national holiday — quite oblivious to the potential for a tsunami. Tsunami sirens were set off late in the afternoon there, and people in coastal areas were being told to stay off beaches and out of the sea, rivers and estuaries.

The New Zealand Herald reported Wednesday afternoon on its Web site that tsunami sirens in Suva, the capital of Fiji, had been warning people to stay inside or go to higher ground.

The Sydney Morning Herald reported on its Web site on Wednesday that the Solomon Islands’ National Disaster Management Office had advised those living in low-lying areas, especially on Makira and Malaita, to move to higher ground.

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Microsoft defends frayed PC ecosystem with $2 billion Dell loan

SEATTLE/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Microsoft Corp is playing defense with a $ 2 billion loan to help Dell Inc’s founder buy back the world’s No.3 PC maker as it seeks to shore up support for Windows and beat back the march of Google Inc’s Android.

The investment in the landmark $ 24 billion buyout led by Michael Dell marks the latest step in Microsoft‘s plan to gain more influence over the hardware supply chain – a departure from the decades-old, software-centric philosophy that helped it dominate the computing world but is now increasingly under threat.

It is far from clear, however, if this strategy will be successful, while the world’s largest software maker risks upsetting other computer producers.

“It doesn’t mean it’s a bad move, but it’s definitely defensive. Microsoft is realizing it must be much more engaged in the hardware business than it used to be, it needs to be making bets and forming relationships,” said Andrew Bartels, an analyst at Forrester Research.

The company that built its fortune on making high-priced software to go in other companies’ computers is inching closer to Apple Inc’s belief that software and hardware must be closely integrated for the sake of the user experience.

Microsoft struck a deal to pay Nokia to make phones running Windows software in 2011 and a year later invested in Barnes & Noble‘s Nook e-reader. It then launched its own computer, the Surface tablet, in October, which rankled some PC makers initially.

In the face of declining PC sales and the onslaught of Apple‘s iPad, “Microsoft has taken more unconventional measures than they would have in the past,” said Sid Parakh, an analyst at investment firm McAdams Wright Ragen.

This time, Microsoft made extra efforts not to alienate its other PC makers, talking to them before inking the deal, said sources familiar with Microsoft‘s relations with its partners, and holding off from an ownership stake.

“Microsoft reached out (at the highest levels) a bit before all of it came out,” one of the people said. “There were multiple conversations. Clearly they put some thought into it and definitely a schedule was pulled together.”

Even so, world No.1 PC maker Hewlett-Packard Co (HP) issued a statement critical of the deal.

Dell “faces an extended period of uncertainty and transition that will not be good for its customers,” HP said, adding that Dell’s ability to invest in products and services will be extremely limited with its debt load.

Lenovo Group Ltd said it remains focused on products and customers rather than “distracting financial maneuvers and major strategic shifts.”

Microsoft, advised by Lazard Ltd, declined to comment on the terms of the Dell loan, or what exactly it gets in return, but made it clear it would look for “opportunities to support” companies that buy in to Windows, in whatever form. That suggests this may not be its last third-party investment.

Still, there is no guarantee that Microsoft‘s loan will give it any sway over Dell at all. One former Microsoft executive said the deal was pointless.

“I know Michael (Dell), he will continue to run his empire the way he has always done – without any outside influence,” said Joachim Kempin, once Microsoft‘s top executive in charge of its relationships with PC makers, who left the company in 2002.

PLATFORM WARS

Chief Executive Steve Ballmer made it clear last year that he sees Microsoft as a “devices and services” company with an explicit interest in hardware, whoever it is made by.

“Microsoft has every interest to keep such a key player in its ecosystem alive and well,” said Al Hilwa, an analyst at tech research firm IDC. “Dell supplies a large number of Microsoft customers with hardware, and it is important that their confidence is bolstered in the overall Microsoft ecosystem.”

Dell decided last year to focus its tablet strategy on the new Windows 8 operating system, in contrast to rivals such as Samsung, Asus and Lenovo, which are hedging or leading with Google‘s Android system, and HP which said this week it would make a Google Chromebook.

Dell did experiment with Android with its Streak tablet in 2010, but it flopped.

“This investment might help Microsoft influence whether Dell adopts Android or not, that is likely the goal behind this,” said Parakh.

The loan, negotiated by Microsoft‘s Chief Financial Officer Peter Klein, takes the form of a 10-year subordinated note and will pay 7 percent to 8 percent interest, according to sources familiar with the deal.

It is not clear how much sway Microsoft will have on Dell’s strategy, but the two have been close partners for 25 years, and will likely build on that.

“I don’t think Microsoft is going to run Dell at any time or have a dispositive say in what Dell does,” said one source familiar with Microsoft‘s thinking, who asked not to be named. “Microsoft wants to continue to have a strong and ever deepening relationship with Dell and you can take it as the expectation on both sides.”

PCs are clearly in decline, with sales falling last year for the first time in a decade as the popularity of tablets surges.

Some analysts suggest Microsoft got involved in the deal to learn more from Dell about selling to businesses and individuals.

“Dell is one of the best at building hardware and putting an operating system on it,” said Michael Cherry, an analyst at Directions on Microsoft, an independent consultancy.

With the rise of Google trying to sell into enterprises, it should help Microsoft to have some influence over one of the largest IT vendors, said Parakh.

Microsoft has not always been successful in its tech investments.

Its multi-billion dollar bets on cable firms AT&T Inc and Comcast Corp in the late 1990s did not yield success. Its $ 150 million in a struggling Apple in 1997 ended a long-running patent spat between the two companies, but saved Apple and put it on course to eclipse Microsoft financially.

“Apple is the model, and Microsoft can’t become Apple overnight,” said Bartels at Forrester. “But it needs to have really good partners.”

(Additional reporting by Greg Roumeliotis, Poornima Gupta, Nadia Damouni; Editing by Ryan Woo)

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Jillian Michaels: My Son Phoenix Is 'Fiery' Like Me

Mom & Babies
Celebrity Baby Blog

02/04/2013 at 03:00 PM ET

Gregg DeGuire/WireImage

Jillian Michaels‘ son Phoenix is already taking after his mama — just not the expected one!

Although The Biggest Loser trainer expected her baby boy to inherit her partner’s laidback approach to life — Heidi Rhoades delivered their son in May — the 8-month-old’s budding personality is the polar opposite.

“He wants to walk and he gets really pissed about it when he can’t. He gets frustrated,” Michaels, 38, told PEOPLE at the recent TCAs.

“He’s a fiery little sucker, he’s just like me. I’m like, ‘You were supposed to be like Heidi!’ But he’s not. It’s not good, not good.”

Admitting she is “terrified for when he’s a teenager,” Michaels has good reason to be: Recently she spotted her son — who is “crawling aggressively” — putting his electrician skills to the test in the family room.

“He’s into everything, which is kind of a nightmare to be totally honest,” she says. “We have an outlet in the floor in the living room and I caught him eating the outlet on the floor … I was like, ‘Mother of God!’”

Phoenix’s big sister Lukensia, 3, has also been busy keeping her mamas on their toes. “Lu just had her first ski trip and she had a little crush on her teacher, Ollie,” Michaels shares.

“At first I was like, ‘Oh my God, we’re letting our baby go!’ The second day we took her she ran right to him — loves Ollie.”

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Bullying study: It does get better for gay teens

CHICAGO (AP) — It really does get better for gay and bisexual teens when it comes to being bullied, although young gay men have it worse than their lesbian peers, according to the first long-term scientific evidence on how the problem changes over time.

The seven-year study involved more than 4,000 teens in England who were questioned yearly through 2010, until they were 19 and 20 years old. At the start, just over half of the 187 gay, lesbian and bisexual teens said they had been bullied; by 2010 that dropped to 9 percent of gay and bisexual boys and 6 percent of lesbian and bisexual girls.

The researchers said the same results likely would be found in the United States.

In both countries, a "sea change" in cultural acceptance of gays and growing intolerance for bullying occurred during the study years, which partly explains the results, said study co-author Ian Rivers, a psychologist and professor of human development at Brunel University in London.

That includes a government mandate in England that schools work to prevent bullying, and changes in the United States permitting same-sex marriage in several states.

In 2010, syndicated columnist Dan Savage launched the "It Gets Better" video project to encourage bullied gay teens. It was prompted by widely publicized suicides of young gays, and includes videos from politicians and celebrities.

"Bullying tends to decline with age regardless of sexual orientation and gender," and the study confirms that, said co-author Joseph Robinson, a researcher and assistant professor of educational psychology at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign. "In absolute terms, this would suggest that yes, it gets better."

The study appears online Monday in the journal Pediatrics.

Eliza Byard, executive director of the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network, said the results mirror surveys by her anti-bullying advocacy group that show bullying is more common in U.S. middle schools than in high schools.

But the researchers said their results show the situation is more nuanced for young gay men.

In the first years of the study, gay boys and girls were almost twice as likely to be bullied as their straight peers. By the last year, bullying dropped overall and was at about the same level for lesbians and straight girls. But the difference between men got worse by ages 19 and 20, with gay young men almost four times more likely than their straight peers to be bullied.

The mixed results for young gay men may reflect the fact that masculine tendencies in girls and women are more culturally acceptable than femininity in boys and men, Robinson said.

Savage, who was not involved in the study, agreed.

"A lot of the disgust that people feel when you bring up homosexuality ... centers around gay male sexuality," Savage said. "There's more of a comfort level" around gay women, he said.

Kendall Johnson, 21, a junior theater major at the University of Illinois, said he was bullied for being gay in high school, mostly when he brought boyfriends to school dances or football games.

"One year at prom, I had a guy tell us that we were disgusting and he didn't want to see us dancing anymore," Johnson said. A football player and the president of the drama club intervened on his behalf, he recalled.

Johnson hasn't been bullied in college, but he said that's partly because he hangs out with the theater crowd and avoids the fraternity scene. Still, he agreed, that it generally gets better for gays as they mature.

"As you grow older, you become more accepting of yourself," Johnson said.

___

Online:

Pediatrics: http://www.pediatrics.org

It Gets Better: http://www.itgetsbetter.org

___

AP Medical Writer Lindsey Tanner can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/LindseyTanner

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Asian shares drop on euro zone worry, soft U.S. data

TOKYO (Reuters) - Asian shares, oil and the euro fell on Tuesday as investors took profits from recent rallies, while the yen got a respite from broad-based selling.

European markets are seen barely changed, with financial spreadbetters predicting London's FTSE 100 <.ftse>, Paris's CAC-40 <.fchi> and Frankfurt's DAX <.gdaxi> would open up nearly flat. But a 0.1 percent gain in U.S. stock futures suggested a firm open on Wall Street. <.l><.eu><.n/>

The MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan <.miapj0000pus> tumbled 0.9 percent, dragged lower by a steep 1.7 percent fall in Hong Kong shares <.hsi>. The pan-Asian index climbed to a 18-month high on Monday.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei stock average <.n225> closed down 1.9 percent, after scaling a 33-month high on Monday. <.t/>

Positive data from China failed to brighten the bearish mood, after the Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> had its worst day since November on Monday on discouraging U.S. factory orders and worries that a potential political shake-up could disrupt the euro zone's efforts to resolve its debt crisis.

Analysts and traders said selling was a correction to markets rallying on receding tail risks such as growing euro zone stability and an improving global economic outlook, while global monetary easing still underpinned sentiment.

"This move in equities ... looks to be a healthy correction, nothing more," said Richard Yetsenga, Head of Global Markets at ANZ Research, adding that downside risk would likely convince major central banks globally to stick to easy policy.

In China, the HSBC services purchasing managers' index rose to a four-month high of 54 in January from December's 51.7, underlining confidence in the world's second-biggest economy, which is expected to grow 8.1 percent this year, off a 13-year low of 7.8 percent hit in 2012.

"The data globally is unquestionably better but the recovery still seems gradual. (China) hit the bottom and they had a bit of a bounce but nothing much else happened. We don't really seem to have preconditions for a much stronger bounce than that (8 percent growth)," Yetsenga said.

The Australian dollar fell 0.3 percent to $1.0405 after the Reserve Bank of Australia kept its cash rate steady at 3.0 percent, as expected, having just cut in December. Australian shares <.axjo> fell 0.5 percent but trimmed some earlier losses after the RBA's rate decision.

The euro took the brunt of renewed focus on the euro zone problems, having risen 2.3 percent so far this year against the U.S. dollar, up about 5.4 percent against sterling and 1.8 percent higher against the Australian dollar.

The euro eased 0.2 percent to $1.3485, retreating further from Friday's 14-1/2-month peak of $1.3711, ahead of the European Central Bank's policy meeting on Thursday.

"Markets have been increasingly comfortable with European risks over the past few months and are largely not positioned for this increase in political problems. The outcomes in Spain and Italy are far from certain and may represent stumbling blocks for further expansion in risk appetite," Barclays Capital said in a research note.

Spain's opposition party on Sunday called for Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy to resign over corruption allegations, which Rajoy denies, pushing Spanish 10-year bond yields to six-week highs.

In Italy, 10-year Italian government bond yields hit their highest since late December, as chances of former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi regaining power raised worries about Rome's ability to fix its fiscal problems.

The yen took a breather, firming from lows against a broad range of currencies.

The dollar steadied at 92.36 yen after scaling its highest since May 2010 of 93.185 on Monday, while the euro eased 0.1 percent to 124.53 yen, off its loftiest since April 2010 of 126.97 hit on Friday.

"Markets are broadly undergoing a correction and the euro is definitely facing profit-taking, given the pace of its climb. Worries about the euro zone debt crisis always remain a downside risk for the euro, and could push it lower to $1.32-$1.33," said Hiroshi Maeba, head of FX trading Japan at UBS in Tokyo. "But the trend is still upward for dollar/yen, cross/yen. The dollar could reach 95 yen by the end of the month."

As long as markets hold out expectations for the Bank of Japan to implement aggressive monetary easing to beat decades of deflation in Japan, the yen will stay pressured. Any correction to the dollar's rise against the yen was also be seen as shallow, with many traders and analysts seeing a firm floor around 87-88 yen.

Italy & Spain bond yields: http://link.reuters.com/gat45t

Asset returns in 2013: http://link.reuters.com/dub25t

China, EU, US Services PMI: http://link.reuters.com/dyh85s

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Asian credit markets faltered with the plunge in equities, widening the spread on the iTraxx Asia ex-Japan investment-grade index by three basis points.

Brent crude slipped towards $115 per barrel, giving up some of its gains from the last three weeks, on renewed euro zone worries and a slightly firmer dollar.

(Editing by Eric Meijer)

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India Ink: When India Works

ALLAHABAD, India — Look in any direction at any time in this riddle of a state and you can’t help but find dysfunction.

Yet in the five days spanning Jan. 20 to 25, the Indian government administered polio vaccine to an estimated 172 million children — a number greater than the entire population of Russia — in an ongoing effort that has eliminated the disease here.

How can this be?

From the unsafe water that’s delivered each day into hundreds of millions of homes and village hand-pumps, to a welfare system that allows half of India’s children to go hungry while politicians steal billions of dollars in food aid, it’s clear that poor people often survive here despite, and not thanks to, their citizenship in the world’s most populous democracy.

And yet. In 1988 India had as many as 200,000 new polio cases a year. In 2009, after two decades of vaccinations, it accounted for, at 741 infections, nearly half the world’s total. Last month, however, India marked two years without a single polio infection, a giant victory in a country that’s regularly trounced by its poorer neighbor Bangladesh in a number of health indicators.

India’s successful war on polio shows what can happen when its government sets clear policy goals backed with proper funding and real accountability.

The complexity of India’s polio project is “unprecedented in the world,” said Anuradha Gupta, a top official at the health ministry who oversees the nationwide effort. With 1.2 billion people speaking dozens of languages, multiple pockets of deep impoverishment and exploitation, and weak rural infrastructure, “it doesn’t get harder than the most difficult contexts in India,” said Rod Curtis, a spokesman for Unicef.

The drive last month was carried out by 2.3 million vaccinators deployed across the country, with special emphasis on 107 townships in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, two northern states that stand out for their prolific birth rates, entrenched corruption and deep poverty. Teams go door-to-door in each town administering oral vaccine drops to small children and infants.

Their work is strictly monitored. In a rarity, local health officials and frontline workers have faced suspension for slacking on the job. Such disciplinary actions can be unusual in a system where many government posts are acquired thanks to patronage or bribes.

Teams last month vaccinated an estimated 100,000 children on moving trains.

Here in Allahabad, in Uttar Pradesh, a massive tent city has been erected to accommodate the millions of people attending the Maha Kumbh Mela, a 55-day Hindu festival at the confluence of the Ganges, the Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati rivers. Teams are working 24-hours-a-day at roads and intersections to find children lacking the indelible ink-spot on their right pinky that denotes a recent vaccination.

Some parents are reluctant. “I tell them it’s mandatory,” Shaheena Parveen, a 19-year-old volunteer, told me as she waded into a stream of pilgrims to intercept a migrant peddler and her 4-month-old daughter. “I say it nicely, softly.”

After years of outreach, fewer than 1 percent of families turn down the vaccine. Teams last month vaccinated an estimated 100,000 children on moving trains.

In many towns, residents at first refuse to accept vaccination, using the drive to negotiate for basic municipal services they aren’t receiving, including working sewers and drains, officials told me.

This points to the limits of an otherwise impressive achievement. In the two years that India finally drove out polio, encephalitis killed more than 1,000 children in Uttar Pradesh. The principle source of those infections was the same as that for polio: rotten sanitation.

Is providing clean water and working sewers really more difficult than vaccinating hundreds of millions of children against a single devastating virus? Why is one achievable and not (so far) the other?

Here’s one possible clue. In the same period those children died of encephalitis, nearly a dozen state officials were charged with stealing an estimated $1.8 billion in health funds earmarked for rural areas — an amount five times greater than that spent by Indian taxpayers to eliminate polio in 2011 and 2012.

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Dan Morrison is a journalist and the author of “The Black Nile.”

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Popular Windows app emulator Wine coming to Android

Great news for anyone who wants to bring more PC capabilities to their Android smartphone or tablet: The Next Web reports that popular Windows app emulator Wine will soon be coming to Android. According to The Next Web, chief Wine developer Alexandre Julliard has been working on porting the emulator to Google’s (GOOG) open source mobile operating system and started showing off how Wine would work on Android over the weekend in Belgium. Although The Next Web says that the port probably won’t be ready “for some time,” this will definitely be something to follow for Android fans who want to bring their favorite PC apps over to their mobile devices.

[More from BGR: iOS 6.1 untethered jailbreak now available for download, compatible with iPhone 5 and iPad mini]

This article was originally published on BGR.com

Linux/Open Source News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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